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July 2009. Note: the Trevor Hutchinson cover to the left is a retailer incentive. |
"OLD WAYS"
Written by: Simon Furman •
Art by: Don Figueroa •
Colours by: James Brown
Synopsis: Ironhide is finished, the Mirage affair and an increased feeling of his own worthlessness has made him decide to leave the Autobots. Sharing a drink with Optimus, his leader tells him he respects the old Autobot too much to try and change his mind, but points he’s never been that good a judge of character, even disliking Optimus himself when they first met.
Over the course of the drink, they reminisce over that first meeting, a time Prime avoided an ambush Ironhide wanted to go straight into and an occasion where a bobby trap left them hanging off a cliff and Optimus had refused to leave him behind.
Optimus finishes the conversation by pointing out not only has Ironhide made him the leader he is, not only do other Autobots still look up to him, but that if Ironhide were to leave the army he’d be losing a good and trusted friend. This persuades Ironhide to stay.
Characters Featured [in rough order of appearance]: Ironhide, Optimus Prime, Kup, Tracks, Undertow, Brainstorm, Tempest, Motorhead, Crosshairs, Boxcar, Springer, Trypticon. [All bar Ironhide and Prime in flashback].
"UNEASY LIES THE HEAD"
Written by: Mike Costa • Art by: Chee Yang Ong • Colours by: Moose Baumann
Synopsis: Six hundred and forty light years from Earth: Astrotrain makes his way through the stars with the former Earth based Decepticons onboard. Starscream is brooding alone when Shrapnel tells him there’s news. Starscream assumes this means Megatron is dead and performs a full eulogy for their leader in front of the other Decepticons, only to be told by Soundwave the news is in fact showing a ten percent improvement. Annoyed, Starscream tries to convince Soundwave keeping Megatron alive is a waste of Energon, but Soundwave is too loyal.
Alone, Starscream considers his possibilities. Assassinating Megatron is out of the question with Soundwave watching, but he needs some way of asserting his authority before they meet up with the Decepticon forces led by Razorclaw. As he muses, he considers the Matrix, having made extensive study of it he now considers it a worthless bauble. His annoyance with the fact this is all they have to show for their occupancy of Earth almost makes him throw it out the airlock before Shrapnel enters the room and intervenes.
This gives Starscream an idea, he takes the Matrix and proclaims to the other he has unlocked its secrets and is a chosen one. This rallies them around him, but as they cheer he goes into another room and buries his head in his hands….
Characters Featured [in rough order of appearance]: Astrotrain, Shrapnel, Starscream, Reflector, Bombshell, Kickback, Blitzwing, Frenzy, Ratbat, Megatron, Soundwave, Buzzsaw.
Reviews & Commentary: Reviewed by inflatable dalek
August 2009. Note: the Trevor Hutchinson cover to the left is a retailer incentive. |
"REPLAY"
Written by: Shane McCarthy •
Art by: Emiliano Santalucia •
Colours by: Josh Burcham
Synopsis: As Sunstreaker’s brain lies dying beneath the exploded bridge, his life passes before his eyes: Successfully driving the Decepticons off a planet and being hailed as a hero before being summoned to Earth; screaming as he’s dissected by the Machination; forced to watch a Machination scientist get his end away whilst just a head; Hunter refusing to kill him and demanding they team up; brushing off Ratchet with claims he’s alright but being overwhelmed as soon as he’s alone.
Finally we pull out as the life drains from Sunstreaker’s head.
Characters Featured: Sunstreaker, Hunter, Ratchet, Bumblebee, Jazz, Swarm Corpses. [All except Sunstreaker and the Swarm are only in Sunstreaker’s head].
"REBIRTH"
Written by: Andy Schmidt • Art by: Andrew Griffith • Colours by: Josh Burcham
Synopsis: On Garrus-9 Galvatron crawls out of the Solar Pool bursting with new power and knowledge.
Meanwhile Cyclonus returns to Gorlam Prime dejected and defeated, dragging the bodies of his Ark comrades to a furnace in order to destroy their bodies and end their misery with some honour, as none can survive as long in the real Universe as he can. A still functional Scourge arrives and is about to be chucked on the fire by Cyclonus when Galvatron falls out of the sky.
Galvatron quickly explains that the Darkness has merged with him in a different way to how it had with Nova Prime creating something new. He uses his powers to rejuvenate Scourge and turn the dead bodies of their comrades into new foot soldiers, though a mistake means these “Sweeps” are in Scourge’s form rather than his own. He then explains to Cyclonus he was able to survive out in reality because he was the only one who had a spark of life left in him, which Galvatron now uses to bring him fully back to life.
Galvatron then leads them all off on his special Universe changing mission, which neither Cyclonus nor Scourge understand but they’re happy to follow him.
Characters Featured: Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge, Sweeps.
Reviews & Commentary: Reviewed by inflatable dalek
September 2009. Note: the Trevor Hutchinson cover to the left is a retailer incentive. |
"EVERYTHING IN ITS RIGHT PLACE"
Written by: Nick Roche •
Art by: Nick Roche •
Colours by: Kris Carter • Story Assistance by: James Roberts
Characters Featured: Springer, Prowl, Outback [Corpse, flashback], Outback’s Arm [Flashback, Hallucination], Brainstorm, Perceptor, Landmine [Flashback], Cloudburst [Flashback], Groundbreaker [Flashback], Waverider [Flashback], Kup, Ratchet [Onscreen File], Hot Rod [Onscreen File], Grimlock [Onscreen File], Bludgeon [Flashback], Scorponok [Flashback], Thunderwing [Flashback], Soundwave [Flashback], Megatron [Flashback], Starscream [Flashback].
"LOST AND FOUND"
Written by: Denton J. Tipton • Art by: Casey Coller • Colours by: Joana Lafuente
Reviews & Commentary: Reviewed by inflatable dalek
October 2009. Note: the Trevor Hutchinson cover to the left is a retailer incentive. |
"THE MAN OF STEEL"
Written by: Mike Costa. •
Art by: Guido Guidi. •
Colours by: Josh Burchan.
"HIDDEN"
Written by: Zander Cannon • Art by: Chee Yang Ong • Colours by: Moose Baumann
Reviews & Commentary: Reviewed by inflatable dalek
Amazon estimate January 2010. |
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